A Cheap Present
by Bar-Ohki
Summary: Mamori gave him a challenge and he delivered….


Author:: bar_ohki

Title: A Cheap Present

Rating: T for suggested themes and some swearing.

Summary: Mamori gave him a challenge and he delivered….

Notes: This was inspired by Daftken's picture. Merry Fucking Christmas as Hiruma would say!

Ah college, something Anezaki Mamori found herself enjoying a great deal. There was the learning, the new friends, the new things to do, the boyfriend. Well, sort of kind of boyfriend. That guy, the football team captain and quaterback, Hiruma Youichi, nothing was straightforward and simple with him. Romance was no exception.

It had all began when Hiruma needed a 'girlfriend' (arm candy would have been a better description) for some casino night thing he was doing to get himself some blackmail. After a great deal of attempted persuasion (which was everything from attempted blackmail to outright begging at the end), Mamori finally crumbled and let herself be volunteered for the job (who knew Hiruma had remarkable puppy eyes!?).

Things got a little more complicated when they ran into one of their sempais at the event and he assumed the two were exactly what they appeared to be, boyfriend and girlfriend. At the time it would have blown their cover to correct him, so they had gone along with it. Unfortunately he wasn't someone Hiruma could readily blackmail into silence and by the next day the entire time had heard the news.

At that point Mamori pulled Hiruma aside and just told him it was going to be easier if they just did start dating. For once, he agreed.

And so started their dating but not dating relationship. They told others they were, in fact, dating, but at the same time they didn't hold hands in public. They didn't go to the movies together. Everyone just assumed they were stealing kisses in the locker room and banging instead of slaving over game plans.

Mamori didn't even bother to correct the rumors, as false as they were, she would only roll her eyes and move on with her life. It got hard at times, when she wanted to have some love and a real boyfriend, she'd get mad and snappy at Hiruma only leaving the typically prepared and intelligent man confused. For her it was satisfying to hear that Hiruma just 'didn't get the fucking manager' sometimes. But at the same time because he didn't understand her frustrations, she knew she was communicating what they were to him. And yet, as was typical with these two, neither could stop.

Concerned friends of both parties often remarked their relationship 'wasn't going anywhere'. Hiruma thought this suited him just fine and Mamori claimed it was, but inside she was disappointed. Eventually she finally got to the breaking point and slapped Hiruma across the face in front of everyone in the locker room one morning.

Agon, with his almost superhuman abilities, found himself dropping his gear in surprise. Taka, the unusually phased and calm receiver was openly gawking. Yamato looked like he had just seen someone run past Panther when said runningback was going full kilter. An awkward silence filled the locker room and Hiruma stood frozen, his gaze turned away by the force of the slap.

Ikku was the first one to move. And that movement was him running out of the locker room in an almost panic. Others, like Taka, didn't run from the room, but no one loitered, not even Agon would dare.

Once the locker room was empty Hiruma turned his head back to meet Mamori's gaze and put a hand on his throbbing check.

"What the fuck was that for?" Hiruma asked, not demanded, asked. He was bewildered what prompted such violence out of the usually nice and carefree manager.

Mamori took a deep breath and began to, with a monotone voice, bluntly list all of the numerous frustrations she'd been having these last few months of 'dating'. At first Hiruma looked confused and realization set in and the young man started to feel guilty and ashamed for the first time he could remember. Hiruma might play with people's heads, he might blackmail others and mess up their lives a bit, but he never, ever, wanted to mess with someone's heart. And listening to her list of grievances along with his recollection of her behavior as of late, everything came together for the quaterback and he realized he had messed up.

Big time.

Once Mamori finished she felt tears prickling at her eyes. She felt exposed and bare, she felt like she'd been cornered and trapped. Basically she felt horrible and she was unsure if Hiruma was even capable of salvaging this situation she had constructed. Looking at him, Mamori showed how weak she had let herself become and how the situation around her was now beyond her powers to control.

Hiruma shut his eyes, opened them and sincerely apologized. It wasn't something Mamori had expected but it made her smile and cry a little. She was happy he understood what he had done. Again keeping her off balance he gave her a very awkward hug. Hugging wasn't something Hiruma did hardly ever, but for Mamori, someone he actually did give a fuck about, he would try.

And he told her that along with his fears and reasons why he hadn't tried to take their relationship anywhere. It turned out he was afraid of getting hurt as much as he was afraid of hurting her. The most amazing thing, to Mamori, was that Hiruma was really, really scared of the unknown. Love wasn't something he was terribly familiar with and it wasn't something he could just sit down and research either.

Mamori apologized for slapping him. Hiruma confessed he probably deserved it.

Together, they decided to go and see that action movie that weekend. They would go together, they would hold hands, and Hiruma would threaten the movie theater employees and Mamori would sweet talk the guy at the concession stand into giving her an extra thing of popcorn for free. Hiruma would quietly explain to her how all of the special effects worked and she would squeeze his hand when she got nervous. He would roll his eyes the romantic moments, and Mamori would suppress an awe or giggle.

They would leave the theater after the movie laughing. Hiruma would begrudgingly buy Mamori a creampuff and she would buy him a coffee. They would agree, as they sat in the Starbucks, that they both had a great time and doing that again would be wonderful.

Musashi would remark that that was their real first date. He would also tell you their relationship picked up nicely at a fast pace from there. They still argued, anyone on the football team could tell you that, but they also openly shared winks and inside jokes just as frequently. Whatever they had was working, and working good.

It was Hiruma who decided to take things up a notch when Mamori remarked she didn't want anything expensive for Christmas.

"You always give me expensive things," Mamori complained, "why don't you get me something cheap for once? I want something simple, hand made by you."

"You just love to make my life difficult, don't you fucking girlfriend?" Hiruma grumbled, not thrilled the present he had already procured for her wasn't going to work. Oh well, he'd give the laptop to her parents to give to her. He knew they hadn't gotten her a present yet and she'd like it more coming from them. Well, assuming she didn't figure out he personally built it for her with the best hardware (military grade). Then he'd probably get an earful from her and she might give him the silent treatment.

This only meant the handmade gift would have to be something really, really special or she wasn't going to be forgiving in the slightest.

Hiruma toiled several hours he should have been spending sleeping trying to figure out a gift when it finally dawned on him. The perfect gift. If you didn't count the packaging material, it would be free. He grinned when he went into the innocent craft store and bought a fucking ton of red ribbon. The lady at the cash register thought he was wrapping a car. He knew better, he was wrapping something so much better. He even made the bow himself.

So when Mamori came home on Christmas Eve (the date they had agreed to give their presents on) she came in, still wearing her nice jacket, purse under her arm. Walking innocently past the tree, spiky hair, and AK-47, Mamori was smiling and remarking how her day at work had been.

"-and Karin-chan brought some really nice cook-!!" That's when Mamori finally figured out there was something wrong with the image of her living room in her peripheral vision. She turned around to see Hiruma had undressed completely and tied himself carefully up in red ribbon. He barely covered everything that needed covering, but very little had been left to imagination.

"Merry fucking Christmas!" Hiruma told her happily.

"Y-youichi!" Mamori gasped breathlessly.

"You like?" Hiruma asked, his eyes glittering in amusement.

Mamori only brushed a rather beautiful shade of red and nodded hesitantly.

"Good, now unwrap me and we can get started enjoying our fucking holiday." Hiruma ordered.

Mamori didn't need to be told twice.

Years later, after a very interesting wedding ceremony and two long pregnancies, Mamori sat on her bed with her eldest son of five years in her arms. The boy was looking at the faded red bow that was tied to his parents' bed. It'd been there as long as he could remember. Dad said Mom always had that ribbon tied to her bed, and Dad always had this funny smile on his face when he said it.

"Mom," the boy began, "what's with the bow?"

"Your Dad gave it to me," Mamori explained to her son, "it was one of the best presents he ever gave me."

"Was it as good as me?" The boy asked. Hiruma had joked with their children that they were both presents he gave Mom. Mamori would smack him lightly.

"Well if he hadn't given me that, I don't think you would have been born when you were." Mamori was sure they would have gotten around to getting married eventually, maybe not as quickly if Hiruma hadn't been so foreword that day.

"Mom!" The younger son, age two, came running into the room, climbing up on bed as he rushed in. Moments later an annoyed looking Hiruma came running into the room.

"So Dad," their eldest turned to the quickly calming man, "what was the present you gave Mom?" He pointed at the ribbon. The youngest turned and looked at Dad expectantly.

"...A cheap present." Hiruma answered evasively.

"Cheap present?" The boys chorused.

"Yeah, got it for free." Hiruma grinned. "And it was worth a great deal to both of us."

"Yes," Mamori agreed, "it was."

_=_=_=_=_

You like?


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